Too Far Gone
by CathyEllisbell
Summary: Although Ezra is aware of the potential dangers attached to falling for a minor he knows he's too far gone to change.
1. Chapter 1

Two knocks. Pause. And then a third. Although I already knew who would be at the door I waited for the fourth and finally knock to complete our prearranged code before I let each of my muscles un tense. I slunk over to the door to open it taking a brief look through the peep hole to ensure that the person on the other side was who I was expecting. Although I had learnt to live with the fear that came packaged with my girlfriend, my heart never got the memo and without fail it thudded at twice its normal speed at each risky opportunity. This package of fear was here to stay and had a fuck off sized bow attached just to draw attention. I shuddered at the thought of one day a cop being the other side as I pulled the door open, grateful for the ally that greeted me.

"Hey Mr. Fitz" my caller muttered almost refusing to meet my gaze.

"Seriously Hanna, call me Ezra you're in my apartment is there any need for formality here?"

"No I guess not." She said, smiling apologetically at me briefly before turning her gaze to the rest of my cosy apartment. "Urmm...nice place Mr. Fff" She caught her mistake and quickly corrected herself "I mean Ezra, sorry." Shooting another apologetic smile in my general direction she dumped a duffel bag that I recognised beside the door before her smile turned awkward.

She was only a young girl approaching 17, slowly. Her age made her being here so wrong. Throughout my time at Rosewood I've been forced to look at age in such a different way that the lines between acceptable and not have been smudged so that I know that there could be a time that I'll have to re draw them.

At least these metaphorical lines are still there although barely visible I know they're there. I take comfort from the fact that if I am going to cross these lines I'm doing it in the best way possibly with the most amazing girl I've ever laid eyes on my soul mate. Deep down I know this doesn't give me a get out of jail free card as much as I pretend it does I know if anybody finds out they won't stop and listen to this in favour of dialling 911. I quickly pushed this thought out of my mind, it hurt to think of me shunning my love out of my life for good just because her parents decided to have a child a few years after mine.

"Thanks, take a seat, do you want a drink or anything?" before she could no doubt decline my offer her best friend bounded out of my bathroom, dressed only in an old robe.

"Oh! Han scared me much, did you bring my stuff?" Hanna took in her friend's attire before she gestured at the bag that she left at the door.

"Life saver, Mom and Dad would never believe that I was all the way in Maine if I just walked in to pick up my favourite sweater. What did you tell them?"

"That I left my English book in your room, seemed fitting somehow," for the first time since Hanna stepped foot in my apartment she looked relaxed, comforted by her friend's presence. Aria had that effect on people I found, any time I started to freak out about our secret relationship she would soothe me with a few chosen words and all would be right again. I hadn't decided whether this was a blessing or the worst form of mind trickery known to man. "Anyway I've got to run; Caleb's waiting for me at Lucas'. Bye Aria, see you Monday... errr Ezra" she said taking one look back at the apartment to wave goodbye and shut the door.

Now I let myself breathe deeply as I looked over at Aria drying her hair. I felt secure, calm when it was just us and as much as I trusted Hanna and the other girls, I was still very aware that their loyalty to Aria may not last. This made me uneasy and Aria knew it. I know what's happening here is wrong, every time I wake up with a minor in my bed my first urge is to run this desire quickly chased down with the over whelming realization that I'm too far gone for this ever to be urge that could be acted upon.

Pushing these thought from my mind I walked over to the beautiful girl standing in my living room, thinking how a robe and one movement of my hand stood between me and her beautiful body. Bending my head to kiss her soft neck I gently pushed aside the fabric that separated my lips from the rest of her coconut flavoured skin. She turned and I saw a flash of lust in her chocolate brown eyes before mine glanced at her lips as they murmured my name. Having her here like this with me was indescribable. Which as perfect as it was I found it deeply frustrating. Every time that I was in this position thoughts of sonnets and odes I could write for this beauty rushed into my brain. Entire lines about pure passion and coconuts danced and flickered before my eyes, each time I went to grab them they faded into nothingness. Reality returned with a blow and my lips crashed down on hers unable to control them any longer. This. Here. Was meant for the moment and as much as I wanted to capture it so it may live in black and white for eternity I knew that I could not do it in the colour full now. Too much was happening and I knew it wouldn't be long before I succumbed to her entirely.

**This is my first go at any writing. Critiques are welcome, feedback just so I know how I'm doing. Shall I continue? Thanks for reading Cathy Ellis-Bell.**


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of the kettle's whistle awoke me as I stretched one arm across my bed in search of Aria, not surprised to find her side vacant.

"I made toast, what do you want on it jelly or honey, honey?" she called laughing at her joke from my pokey kitchen. I rolled over pretending to still be asleep in the vain hope that she might come over to wake me up, which of course would be my opportunity to get her back into my now seemingly giant sized bed without her in it. I squeezed my eyes shut and nuzzled into my pillow thinking how all of my life I've dreamt of the most perfect girl and  
>now finally I have her. Just hearing her interested in my condiment preferences made me happy.<p>

"Ezra I know you're awake I can see you looking at me." Busted it's true I did take a quick peek at her but how could I not? Even though Hanna collected the sweats she usually slept in from her house last night she was wearing one of my white shirts. Just one of my white shirts and a pair of socks that my mother bought for me last Christmas. She made that alone look like a million dollar outfit.

"I hope you know that I can never wear that shirt again because of you," I yawned sitting up in bed and stretching my arms above my head

"Why exactly?" she replied taking a break from hunting for butter in my near empty refrigerator to shoot me a quizzical look.

"Because every time I do it'll make me think of you and I'll know that no matter how hard I try I'll never make it look as good as you do. I really do not need that realization to come to me in front of an entire room of college students; it's not good for my confidence." I explained receiving an outright puzzled expression back from Aria.

"Ezra, you know that might not be a bad idea for you to stop wearing this to Hollis," she paused as she reached further into the depth of my refrigerator, it was my time to give the quizzical look before she continued "because I seem to remember ever time you stood in front of _my_ class wearing this shirt I used to have _very_ inappropriate thoughts about you _without _the shirt on. I really do not want you to have the same effect on your new class."

"Maybe you could come here and I'll put the shirt on and we can reinact your very inappropriate thoughts, actually do we really need the shirt? Leave it over there if you want." I called to her hopefully.

"Do you want cold toast? No. Get up and out of bed and I'll think of how we can incorporate the shirt into our little reinaction later." I tried to figure out how this could be possible as I walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss on the head, how the hell does her hair smell so good? I swear she doesn't bring her own shampoo here, does she? I was about to ask this question when I realized the sheer amount of groceries that scattered my kitchen  
>services and parts of the floor.<p>

"My god Aria, where did you get all this food from?" For the first time since I moved into the apartment the bare shelves which I had become accustom too now held a decent amount of food.

"You sleep a lot Ezra, I ran out like an hour ago to the store'" noticing my obviously worried expression she continued with a smile "Relax, nobody saw me apart from the clerk, the town's so quiet right now."

Oh wow I do sleep a lot, catching the time on the stove which read almost 12 o'clock.

"I'm not worried about people seeing you come in here, I'm worried about people seeing you come in here when you've told your parents that you're at Spencer's cabin in Maine for the weekend."

"Shit I totally forgot about that, but seriously nobody saw me like literally the town is dead"

"Literally?" I questioned raising an eye brow and taking a rather large bite out of the barely warm toast which she _had_ literally smothered in honey.

"Oh haha no not literally Mr. English teacher" She fake laughed as she unpacked the groceries from the many bags that now filled my kitchen services.

"That's Mr. English professor now thank you, I've upgraded, anyway what do you fancy doing this fine Saturday morning?"

"Afternoon." She corrected before she continued in a bored tone "Well, there's cartoons and cuddles? Like usual or we could branch out from the norm and head to Philly, no need to stay coped up in your apartment right?"

"You're out of town, remember?" I retorted quickly nipping the whole idea in the bud.

"So are my parents, they left with Mike to see my grandparents upstate this morning, so we get to go!" Noticing the complete lack of trust in my face she continued all the while looking insanely cute with puppy dog eyes "If it makes you feel better we can walk to the station separately, and if anyone sees me I really doubt they would mention it to either one of my parents,"

She has a point, so much for bud nipping. She knows how I feel about venturing away from our safe haven but despite this she never fails to dangle the freedom that was the city of  
>Philadelphia in front of me. I wish I could just go to Philly with her it was a whole train ride away from Rosewood and more importantly the people that live here. Although I knew that the likelihood of bumping into one of these many people was highly unlikely, (mostly because I liked to casually stroll among the back streets of the city) I still got the same thud thud thud feeling that came with answering the door. As I contemplated whether or not I should risk the day out with Aria she took her place at the table opposite me and preceded to give me puppy dog eyes, managing still to look cute as she filled her mouth with a<br>giant amount of jelly covered toast. Deciding that it was probably about time to answer her I quickly thought of an arrangement we could stick too. My face must of relaxed in some way signalling to her that I had come around to her way of thinking as she has jumped up out of her chair planted a massive kiss on head and ran to her duffel bag to seek a killer outfit to wear.

"Aria, we've got to figure out some sort of way of going about this in Philly, if Rosewood is dead then that might mean and influx of people that we know in Philly right?" I paused and noticed her attire as she sat cross legged on the floor rifling throw the bag. "Did you go to the store dressed like that?" I asked questioningly with an eye brow raised "Because even if the entire population was 'dead' I'm positive the clerk would have found a way to spread that bit of gossip around the neighbourhood."

"I wore sweats this morning but I took them off to entice you out of bed, I had to be clever about this,"

"That is clever, it worked right" I called on my way bathroom and I trying to distinguish the differences between the toothbrushes that inhabited the shelve "Hey, which toothbrush is mine? Red or orange?"

"Red!" she replied walking into the bathroom grabbing her orange tooth brush to protect it from me "pass me the paste, please." She asked with a smile that made me want to kiss her all over."

**Aria's POV**

I looked across at Ezra as he dozed in the seat across from me. We'd been on the train for a while now; he'd spent the first half at least attempting to make conversation with me but then he just got less and less responsive. We'd been dating in secret now for so long that we'd become used to the same routine each Saturday we'd hang out at his apartment watching cartoon after cartoon. As much as I loved being with him I was beginning to worry that it might go a bit stale.

That's why I continually hassle him to get out of his apartment, I worry that as soon as were finally ready to tell people about our relationship we would have exhausted all the fun out of it by simply staying in. As much as I loved it, it wasn't a true relationship being coped up in an apartment the size of my parent's entire kitchen. So even though Ezra was currently missing us being outside together it was worth it just to be outside with him despite the fact that he wasn't conscious.

After a while of gazing out the window at the random towns that separated Rosewood from Philly I felt the train slow and pull into the station Ezra stirred in his sleep, he looked so sweet when he slept he looked younger too which made us being together less strange to our fellow passengers.

"Hey, Ezra wake up, we're here," his eyes opened just a little to peek out at his surroundings, and recognising the familiarity of the Philadelphia platform he stretched his arms above his head and let out one hell of a yawn.

"I fell asleep? Sorry, I'm blaming you for keeping me up last night though" he said rubbing the sleep from his eyes

"Why? We weren't that late going to sleep were we?" I knew this was true last night I crashed at around 11 and slept soundly until the neighbour's door slammed shut so loudly it woke me with a jolt.

"_You_ fell asleep I didn't" Oh god I must have kept him awake, shit did I snore or hog all the comforter the girls used to tease me about my quilt stealing at slumber parties. Seeing as Ezra never mentioned it I assumed my desire for the entire comforter had been left in my past. Before I freaked out I let him continue just encase my night time flaws wasn't the reason for his lack of sleep. I gave him a look which said continue and he did.

"Well I realised after you crashed that I had a tone of marking to be done for after the weekend and I guessed you would have wanted to do something other than watch me do that today so I stayed up late," Thank the lord, Ezra will have to wait until another night to see the dark side of my bedroom antics. Although I did feel bad for him having to stay awake to be with me today I'm glad that I did not snore, that wouldn't have come across well.

We left the train hand in hand in search of food which we found in a nearby restaurant. Of course Ezra chose one in the backstreets of the city unbeknownst to him I was aware of his fear of being caught in the main streets with an ex student, I mean of course he was. I just hoped that us being low key would help him relax a little and stop him from glancing around every store and street we go into furtively for people we knew.

The restaurant was deserted and dark with a distinct smell of cooking food, which appealed well to my already grumbling stomach. Ezra chose a table near to the back of the place half concealed by a large drape that separated the restaurant from the main bar.

To my utter disgust the pretty blond waitress who was sent to take our drinks order blatantly checked Ezra out. The only good thing about that experience was that she clearly did not pay a thought to his under aged girlfriend, I doubt she even noticed an age gap at all. Actually there were two things good with the waitress' checking out the second was either Ezra didn't even notice or he noticed but decided to ignore her anyway. Leaving me to order the drinks and him to peruse the menu.

"You know, when I was a kid I always wanted to have a girlfriend to do this kind of stuff with," I looked up from my menu and smiled before noting the complete lack of excitement in the activity that we were currently in.

"Ezra, we're in a place that can't even afford proper lighting" Turing my gaze to the candles that filled each possible service and then to the bulb less lightshade above our heads." it's hardly anything special right?"

"Exactly! That's what I mean it's just so easy with you. I love it, I just love spending time with you, even this it's nothing special like you said but it means so much more than that, and that makes it special, the meaning behind the action." He grabbed my hand and stroke the inside of my palm gently, "and it's mood lighting Aria, it's romantic."

"I get you," I said smiling "it feels right,"

All of a sudden he dropped my hand and slid into the concealment of the drape. Wondering what an earth had happened. I turned around hearing the door shut and a familiar laugh trill out, Noel and Mona had apparently the same thoughts as Ezra about the 'romantic' atmosphere that came with the bar.

I turned to Ezra; his face mirrored mine and looked startled as he mouthed across the table "What are going to do?" My blank face was the only reply needed for this. No words could explain how we could get out of this situation without being caught and having our relationship no doubt outed to the entire student body of Rosewood High. The couple took their place on the other side of the drape which left us unseen and waiting with bated breath.

**What's going to happen next guys! Will they get away unnoticed by the biggest gossip in Rosewood?**

**I wanted to try and narrate Aria, I'm not sure how well it came across. I might switch between the two or stick with just Ezra's POV. As a teenage girl myself I just thought I could do Aria better. **

**Anyway please give your thoughts and review, any feedback is actually wanted in my case I really want ideas on how I can improve my writing.**

**Thanks for reading. Cathy.**

**P.S. I'm British and I'm trying to make this as American as possible by using the right words. I think I did alright, tell me if I didn't!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Hello readers, I really would like to take this opportunity to thank all who are reading my story. Too Far Gone is not only the first fan fic I've ever written but the first anything I've ever written that wasn't going to end it's life being graded by a teacher. I appreciate reviews and I love hearing your thoughts and suggestions. **

**I just remembered I haven't told you my plans for A yet and there's a reason for that because I have none. A is perfect in PLL, and she requires so much detail that me even attempting to write her in to the main plot seems ridiculous, snippets of her here and there I can handle though! Do you agree, disagree with this let me know! **

Aria's POV

It had been almost 15 minutes since Noel and Mona had walked into the bar, in that time the over friendly waitress had come to take our whispered orders and supplied us with drinks. Twice my stomach grumbled loudly and each time Ezra shot me a death stare for the sheer audacity of being hungry. I knew I couldn't but I wished so much to be able to face Mona and tell her all about the immoral relationship that I shared with Ezra. That was the selfish side of me the logically side knew if I did that Ezra wouldn't find it at all easy to forgive me. Telling Mona would be the fastest way possible to get it all out in the open which I desperately yearned to be able to do, the news would spread at killer speed throughout the students in Rosewood High despite it being the weekend. If I let that happen my parents would probably receive a shed load of calls from concerned parents within the hour.

That would be the easy way and yes admittedly the selfish way. Selfish to my parents and to Mike also, I knew if ever they were to find out it should most definitely come from me and not from Lisa Jenkins' over involved mother. Most importantly that way of going about it would be detrimental to Ezra, to his career and to his life in Rosewood. People would never stop to understand preferring to jump straight to accusations, blaming Ezra, accusing him of taking advantage of a minor. Everybody would turn our entire relationship into one giant, seedy sex scandal.

I could never do that to Ezra and that's why I nodded instead of thanked the waitress when she brought over my pizza and that's why Ezra and I spent the next hour in complete silence, listening only to the sound of Mona talk at length about the latest vogue issue to a seemingly mute Noel.

Apparently Noel found this a tedious way to spend his time too, on the waitresses third trip to "check" on Ezra he asked in an incredibly pissed of tone where he could find the wash room. This question did not only put a stop to Mona's monologue but it also stopped the marathon session of footsy that Ezra and I had been running since we sat down. Ezra's foot and entire body froze I sensed he knew something I did not, realizing this he pointedly moved his eyes to the door that stated "Gentlemen" which was conveniently placed "toward the back of the bar, behind this drape" as the waitress pointed out to him. Noel had never made it a secret that he knew the true nature of mine and Ezra's relationship; him already knowing did not however put my mind as ease. Noel thanked the waitress and moved passed our table not taking a second glance at Ezra and I too busy trying to escape his new found position as Mona's diary. Ezra breathed a sigh of relief and began to look slightly more relaxed until I pointed out that he still had to return from the washroom to rejoin his date.

"What are we going to do A?" Ezra breathed to me and my head snapped up.

"Don't call me that ever again," I sneered sternly most probably sounding a bit mental.

"Ok," Ezra muttered in a confused and slightly worried manner "I can hardly call you by your name can I? What if she hears it. It's unique and detectable you know, I'm sorry ok?" I nodded smiling realizing to him, as a person who had never heard of A that my complete hatred toward being called that letter might have come across a bit strange. I brushed off the conversation, concentrating on getting out of this bar without being caught by Mona.

"I think our best bet is too leave now, Mona has her back to us, so if we walk quickly enough and hide our faces she will never know, Noel will never walk past us twice without noticing" Ezra nodded in agreement but as he stood up to collect his jacket from the back of his chair the rest room door opened bathing our section of restaurant with a harsh yellow light and successfully revealing us to Noel.

Noel took a calculated step forward, relishing in his new found discovery,

"Noel please," I whispered keeping an eye on Mona, who by the looks of things was engrossed in a text that she was hastily typing "Please, just don't tell Mona."

"Why? Why should I do anything you ask of me? And why an earth would I help him after what he did to me? you got me suspended!" Noel lowered his voice to say this in an obvious attempt to keep us hidden from Mona. I prayed that this was a sign that he did not want to get Ezra or me caught out.

"Ezra didn't do that, Noel I swear, I don't know who did but I know that he didn't," Although part of this was a lie, I knew of course that A was behind Noel's suspension but he needn't have known that. Ezra moved to stand closer behind me but I held a hand to stop him from interfering and aggravating Noel further.

"I can't say I believe you Aria, but I've actually enjoyed watching you grovel for this man. It's actually quite sweet in a disgusting way." He sneered "Protecting your secret lover from being exposed. I should really thank you both, finding out about your little affair is what I suspect caused me to be framed. Regardless of who it was who is protecting your secret. Suspension has really upped my bad boy image, girls love a little danger in their lives and in their men. I'm sure you of all people can relate to this Aria?" Ezra started forward once more obviously finding something in Noel's little speech which angered him. Diffusing the situation before it escalated I shot Ezra a warning glare before turning to thank Noel.

To my surprise he had returned to his date and was hastily gathering her stuff to make a quick exit before clearing his throat to announce to the Mona "If we're going to make that 5 train to Rosewood we'll have to catch the next showing of the movie" before ushering her out of the door turning only to give a wink in my direction. No doubt to piss off Ezra. I liked to think that perhaps that an announcement that was voiced as loud as it was, was perhaps for mine and Ezra's benefit's as well as Mona's.

I turned to face Ezra who was now slumped in the chair breathing heavily with a look of utter disbelief in his face. Walking over to him I took his cold hand in mine and led him out of the dank pub leaving the remainder of our mostly uneaten meal and the necessary amount of money to cover the bill and tip in our wake.

We walked to the station without exchanging a single syllable both too shocked over the events that had just taken place to even attempt a conversation. Guilt washed over me as we walked through the crowded streets side by side but not hand in hand. If I hadn't of practically forced Ezra to leave the security of his apartment this would never had happened, Noel needn't have known that we were still dating, a significant amount of time had already passed since his suspension perhaps he assumed that our relationship had already fizzled through all the stages and now lay disregarded in the past.

I shouldn't have pressurized him into venturing out of course he felt nervous about openly spending time with me. If our relationship was ever to come out it held the power to majorly damage Ezra's future. Ezra would have to face consequences in his professional and personal life where as I could easily be branded as a victim and live a life void of all responsibilities of our love. Ezra spent the entire train journey visible agitated and was intent in watching the same towns that I had gazed at rolling past in reverse.

**Ezra's POV**

As soon as Aria and I were safe in my apartment I let myself relax for the first time since stepping out this morning. The entire day's events still ran through my mind on a loop like a horrid nightmare. I hadn't spoken for so long, silence was the only thing that had passed between Aria and I since we left Philly. It had been so long that talking now would seem forced and awkward so saving us both from the humility I simply took her hand in my like she had done in the restaurant I guided her as she has guided me all those hours ago. Sitting her on the couch before turning the TV on to our favourite show. Taking my seat on the couch I placed Aria so she could lie with her head on my chest and mine snuggled into the familiar comfort of the cushions. Aria's soft giggling broke our long silence as she found amusement in the characters on the screen before us. Usually I would have laughed too but after that day I simple closed my eyes with the intent of reacquainting myself with the dream that I was amidst when I was awoken that morning.

Finally I felt sleep invade my consciousness and blurred images of Aria filled my head. Snippets of the happy future us flickered through my mind before the nightmare of reality caught up to me. Aria's brilliant face was replaced by Byron's disgusted one and images of Ella's hurt expression filled every part of my vision. Making it impossible to avoid their eyes which both in their different ways reminded me so much of Aria's. The difference was that instead of finding myself searching for something recognisable in hers I was trying to escape the harsh glares that accompanied her parent's. I knew now more than ever the dangers that came attached with loving Aria and how easily our relationship could be discovered if we continued the way we had been for the duration of our time together. Things had to be changed and for the first time our relationship it had to be done properly.

**Thoughts? Feelings? Reviews people. As always thanks for reading Cathy x**


	4. Chapter 4

**I deleted this like ten minutes after I posted, sorry if caused inconveniences. Should have proof read. I wrote excepted instead of accepted and I couldn't live with that, sorry!**

**Started this at half two in the morning it's now 10 to 5 I really hope you like it! **

**Ezra's POV**

Sleep was not willing to come to me that night, because of this I am where I am. Sitting on the bench just outside my apartment, with a note book discarded blank beside me. Thinking. Thinking of what had happened yesterday. Thinking of the distance I felt between Aria and I, even as I watched her sleep soundly, even as I bent to kiss her hair covered forehead. Thinking of our future, that's if we can get passed the now together. In front of me the sun rose. This was beauty before my eyes met Aria, before her smile, her laugh, her lips.

Before her I couldn't have watched what I was seeing now without reaching for a pen. Now I tried to describe the light of the blood red sun framed by the pale blue skies. It looked spectacular. A vision of that light gently kissing her jet black hair and eliminated her perfect features in a way that showed them void of all flaws appeared to me and the sky line didn't seem as spectacular any more. The birds in the trees sat larking and tweeting basking in their freedom, the sound personified what it was to live carefree before Aria's laugh broke through and all of a sudden a care free life was nothing on having her. The smell of the flowers fought in comparison with the smell of Aria and lost valiantly. The feeling of fresh air against skin and the feeling of complete peace fell short of being as exhilarating as holding her body close to mine. Each element that made this morning made me think back to Aria. Trying to capture it by hand would have me thinking of soft freckled skin, pinked plumped lips and amber eyes that had the power to capture me for eternity.

Aria and I had had countless conversations about how we could make us as a couple work. We both knew whole heartedly that changing everything about us was the only way we could make it work together. We knew this and yet we both feared the vital necessary change.

I had to make a decision. I knew the time had come to do this it had just took me this long to accept it as a viable option. Byron and Ella must know my involvement with their daughter surpasses a role of an ex teacher but so much more, a soul mate. We had come so close to being found out yesterday that if it should happen for real it would be cruel for Aria's parent's to find out in such a humiliating way.

As I came to this conclusion my eyelids began to droop with weight that I was sure had just been lifter from my shoulder. Sleep finally began to show signs of coming to me as I traipsed up stairs and lay next to Aria. Still fully clothes I pulled her close to my body and held tightly as I snuggled into her, finally the gap between us closed and sleep evaded me whole.

**Aria's POV**

I felt Ezra tug at me to lay close to him and I accepted. I felt alone without his warm body pressed up against mine, his fitting into my contours perfectly. I was barely conscious while this wordless interaction was played out, too tired to form the three worded phrase that I so desperately wished for him to know I meant. I sought out Ezra's hand and placed it where my heart lay under my chest; I hoped this reassured him that it was beating for him.

It was too late, his hand was unresponsive to my touch and his breathing grew heavy until a gently snore escaped his lips and I knew that my actions were lost on him. My vision became blurred, his arm lay limp across my body and all actions were lost to me too.

Hours later the Drum's song let's go surfing interrupted my sleep and I hastily grabbed my cell before the ringtone woke Ezra.

"Hello?" I murmured into the receiver, eyes still closed protected from the bright light of day that shone through the blinds.

"Aria, it's Mom. Sorry honey did I wake you?" I quickly turned to face Ezra and motioned for him to keep quiet except I was faced with his back as he lay face down on his pillow still in deep sleep. I lay back and relaxed.

"Umm no not really I feel asleep ... on the plane," I winced at my unconvincing lie.

"You're flying now? I thought you would have wanted to stay there later, are you sure you should be on your cell!" Mom exclaimed, her voice sounding concerned. Shit, I'm terrible at lying and airplane shit, I really should have researched this.

"Urrm we haven't actually taken off yet, I'm just so tired that I crashed as soon as I had buckled up, I really should go Mom, urmm the lights are flashing?" Light's flash on planes right?

"Hold on, your brother wants to talk with you, it seems urgent" I tried to interrupt her but she was already handing the phone over to Mike and telling him to make it quick.

"How's Maine sis?" He sounded more upbeat than he had seemed in a long time. I could hear him climb the stairs and shut a door that was most probably his bedroom's. I went to answer his question with yet more lies but he saved me the trouble.

"See I would wait for answer, but how would you know how Maine was, I could ask you what the weather is like right now in Maine, go on Aria." He sounded harsh and not like my brother at all. Like a stranger.

"It's not really doing much, quite windy and urm little bit of drizzle." That seemed like Maine-ish weather enough, to be honest I had no clue what the weather in Maine was like. I barely knew where Maine was. I added these to the list of things I should have researched.

"Wrong, heat wave." I felt my heart sink as Mike's voice rung out through the speaker, I started to panic. Why was he asking me these questions?

"Mike, what is this about? I'm sitting aisle on the plane and Spencer's scared of heights so the blinds are pulled down. I really should go Mike. The steward is coming over, he looks quite pissed actually"

"You're not on a plane and you're not with Spencer. I saw you. Yesterday morning, coming out of an apartment building on Elm. The same apartment building where Mr. Fitz lives, I remembered from the information sheet he gave out when he taught my class. You and him were walking practically hand in hand, gazing lovingly into one another's eyes? I want to know what the fuck you are doing with him, and why are you lying about it. I'll see you at the house, in about 3 hours. Enough time to get back from Maine I think. I want answers, the truth, and then I'll decide what to do about Mom and Dad." He hung up the phone, leaving the line cold before I could force him to listen to me. Ezra had woken up and was looking up at me with a calm accepting expression. I lay back on his chest. I knew this day had to come. My parents were going to find out. Today.

**We all knew this was coming, Mike's a bit of a bitch right?**

**Like I said up top, it's late, well early. Not quite blood red skies yet though, so I do apologise for the mistakes if there are any. And I know my chapters are quite short compared to other writers on here, but that's usually because I write late and get tired quickly.**

**As always, feedback, criticisms, opinions, suggestions are loved by me. I want this to be a learning curve.**

**Also , a song for you. To build a home- cinematic orchestra. I love it and it's the all consuming love that Ezra has for Aria. Beautiful.**

**Sleep beckons me now, night/morning readers. Cathy xx **


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